Trump wants to bring back money bail. Why did Illinois end it? | Coalition to End Money Bond
In 2021, the Illinois legislature passed the Pretrial Fairness Act. With its implementation in 2023, Illinois became the first state in the country to completely end the use of money bond. Freedom is no longer fee-based, and courts are spending more time & using more information to decide who is released and who is detained […] The post Trump wants to bring back money bail. Why did Illinois end it? appeared first on Coalition to End Money Bond.| Coalition to End Money Bond
Today, President Trump signed an Executive Order aimed at forcing states that have ended or reduced the use of money bail in the pretrial process to reverse those policies. This executive order comes after weeks of fearmongering about pretrial reforms from the President. Statement from the Illinois Network for Pretrial Justice: “What the President is trying to […] The post Illinois Defends the Pretrial Fairness Act. We Will Not Bow Down to Trump. appeared first on Coalition to End M...| Coalition to End Money Bond
Yeseterday, Governor JB Pritzker signed the FAIR (Funded Advocacy & Independent Representation) Act into law. Advocates and public defenders across Illinois are celebrating this meaningful and long overdue response to decades of substandard resources and funding in Illinois’ public defense system. The critical reform measure, once implemented, will ensure that Illinoisans who can’t afford an […] The post Governor Pritzker Signs the FAIR Act into Law! appeared first on Coalition to End M...| Coalition to End Money Bond
We are disappointed but unsurprised to see President Trump once again calling to repeal the Pretrial Fairness Act and bring money bail back to Illinois. Whether it’s gutting the social safety net, ending funding for violence prevention programs, or calling to repeal effective reforms to our criminal legal system, the President has consistently shown that […]| Coalition to End Money Bond
We are calling on the Cook County Board of Commissioners to protect funding for essential services like violence prevention, behavioral health, and community investment to reduce intra-community violence. Cook County can support these services by freezing law enforcement spending, which is already far above levels set when the jail and state’s attorney’s office had higher […]| Coalition to End Money Bond
Our heart goes out to Megan Bos’s family. Losing a child is unimaginable, and we cannot begin to comprehend the pain her family must be experiencing. Unfortunately, as has been the norm for those who opposed the Pretrial Fairness Act, State Representatives Patrick Sheehan and Tom Weber have used this tragedy to attack the state […] The post Republicans Exploit Megan Bos’s Death to Once Again Spread Misinformation about the Pretrial Fairness Act appeared first on Coalition to End Money B...| Coalition to End Money Bond
Upon taking office as the Cook County State’s Attorney, Eileen O’Neill Burke has implemented several policy changes that are contributing to a rise in pretrial jailing. It is notable that there has been no rise in crime that would explain this increase in pretrial jailing. Assistant state’s attorneys are now required to request incarceration for […]| Coalition to End Money Bond
On November 6, 2024, police responding to a 911 call found a father conducting chest compressions on his two-year-old child. Soon after, the child died. At this moment, we should be reflecting on how a case like this could happen while working to ensure that the parents’ surviving six-year-old child is supported. Instead, Illinois House […]| Coalition to End Money Bond
Last night, the Illinois legislature passed a budget which includes continued funding for the Pretrial Success Grant Program! State funding withheld by the Trump administration created a budget crisis in Illinois which put this important program in jeopardy. Thanks to people from across Illinois who spoke out in support of saving this program, funds to […] The post Communities Successfully Defend Pretrial Success Grant Program appeared first on Coalition to End Money Bond.| Coalition to End Money Bond
After more than a year of organizing from communities across Illinois, the Funded Advocacy & Independent Representation (FAIR) Act (HB3363) has passed the state legislature and will be heading to the Governor’s desk to be signed into law! This historic occasion marks the first time Illinois has significantly updated its public defense structure since 1949, […] The post Illinois Legislature Passes Bill Creating Statewide Office of Public Defense appeared first on Coalition to End Money Bond.| Coalition to End Money Bond
For the second year in a row, Peoria City Council is set to vote on a proposal to request that Illinois legislators amend the Pretrial Fairness Act to require mandatory pretrial jailing for people accused of certain offenses. The Illinois Network for Pretrial Justice condemns this disturbing proposal, which ignores people’s most basic rights and […]| Coalition to End Money Bond
Illinois’ chronic underfunding of public defense is a civil rights crisis. In jurisdictions across the state, public defenders are tasked with overwhelming caseloads and are often deprived of the resources required to provide quality defense. Funding disparities between the prosecutor’s and public defender’s budgets exist in every county. These dynamics disproportionately impact rural, Black, and […]| Coalition to End Money Bond
Today, the Illinois legislature passed the Pretrial Success Act as part of the Illinois state budget. Building upon the successful implementation of the Pretrial Fairness Act, which made Illinois the first state to completely end money bond, the Pretrial Success Act will dramatically increase access to health and human services for people awaiting trial. By […]| Coalition to End Money Bond
Since the Pretrial Fairness Act was implemented last fall, there has been a significant increase in the number of appeals filed. The appeals are mostly from accused people who want an appellate court review of a trial judge’s order to deny them pretrial release. While this increase caught some by surprise, it is the natural […]| Coalition to End Money Bond
